Black Friday Shopping for a Cause

Can I be real for a minute? I used to love, love, love Black Friday shopping. Then I went through the adoption process. Suddenly, Black Friday lost it's luster. I just can't get into the frenzy anymore. There are too many faces that need homes and too many families that are struggling while trying to finish their adoptions. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it. If you can get your family some great deals and have fun doing it, by all means gear up and get out there!

But, if you are looking for an alternative we have one! We've compiled an entire list of families that are fundraising for their adoptions and are selling something in order to do so.

Can you imagine what it would do for them if they wake up on Saturday and have sold out of their items? Can you imagine the hope that it would give them?

Stay, take a look around and shop with us!

Paracord Bracelets 

$7.00

Chosen T-shirts

$20.00

Love Orphans T-shirt

$20.00

Trades of Hope Earrings

$24.00

(The entire site is owned by an adoptive momma and anything

sold there helps them out)

Kumihimo bracelets

$15.00 plus shipping

Shabby Chic Dry Erase

$20.00

(This is an incredible etsy store so take a minute and look at all of her items! I could 

hardly choose one to show you!!)

Hooded towels

$22.00

Men's Necklace

$20.00

Owls for Orphans

$31.00

And last but not least our very own Give1Save1 t-shirt!!!

The proceeds from our shirt will go to helping us be able to 

attend different adoption events as vendors to

help get the word to other adoptive families that 

there is another option for funding adoptions...us!

We want to be there for other families like you, so will you pay it forward and

purchase one of our shirts today?

Give1Save1 Shirts

$20.00

Let me know what you are going to purchase or if you know of other

families that are selling items! I'm shopping for my family too!

I Love Thanksgiving!

It's almost Thanksgiving! Can you believe it? Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays--how about you? I think it's because it's all of the good without all of the bad.  Family, food (the food!!) time off work and school, the changing colors…….BUT, no huge focus on buying gifts and spending every last cent you have on unnecessary stuff, stuff, stuff.  (you don't do that? oh.)

 We've been home with our daughter for 3 whole weeks (I'll write more about that later!) so, I'm planning to keep being thankful right on into the Christmas season.  We have been spending lots of time at home, just playing and getting accustomed to being a family of 5 instead of 4.

I'm overflowing with thankfulness this year! How about you? 

What's your favorite Thanksgiving tradition??

I'll start with my husband's.  His is playing volleyball with his family after Thanksgiving lunch.  Your turn.  (or leave us your favorite holiday dish or recipe!)

I make green bean casserole every year.  I LOVE it. 

  

 I add 3 cans of drained green beans, 2 cans cream of mushroom or chicken soup, a splash of milk, salt and pepper,  garlic and onion powder (because I add that to everything) big dash of Worcestershire sauce, french fried onions (<--all of this in a baking dish) stir, stir, stir…..bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, because I like it very done. Sprinkle more onions on top, let them brown and boom!  Done.  And yes, that's the extent of the recipe I follow.   (check the back of the onion box if you need a real recipe!)  Can you tell I'm not a detail person? 

Enjoy the time with your friends and family! Enjoy the fall colors! Enjoy the food! 

Happy Thanksgiving from me to you!

 By the way, if you'd rather not spend your money on crazy stuff, but be a little more intentional, check back here tomorrow!

Meet Our Family of the Week!

Meet Lisa, an amazing single mom to Olivia, Braeden, and Liam who were adopted from Foster Care. 

Lisa and her children are looking forward to bringing home Macy from Haiti. Watch their video below! I know you are going to love hearing their story!

Follow Lisa and her kids story as they bring Macy home at their blog: http://little-did-i-know.blogspot.com/

You can donate to help Macy come home here: http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bringing-macy-home/88280 Go give $1 or more! Lets rain blssings down on the beautiful family!

Holiday Letters

I'm blessed to call several birthmom's my friends.  They have given me a unique perspective, and also have helped me navigate the relationship with our son's birth family.  Though our adoption is currently closed, at their request, it doesn't stop me from writing letters that I hope someday they will read and cherish.

    We try to do something each holiday season for them, always with a holiday picture, and if I can figure out a way to include hand prints or foot prints, I do!  We've done a white hand print with bunny ears, a reindeer out of his feet, and now that he's getting old enough to color, I make sure to include his art work in every letter.  If you're looking for some creative ideas to begin doing with your child, I love this website! http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com/

    Our family is big on traditions during Christmas time; we always make cookies, go and look at the lights, set up our tree with egg nog in our cups, and many many more.  When we met with his birth family before Isaac was born, they told us one of the things that they liked about us were all these traditions, so I always make sure to show them what we've done with Isaac during the holiday season. 

    As an adoptive parent, I feel like it's important to always remember the family that my son has that isn't able to experience these moments, but make them feel very much a part of his life. 

What do you do to help your child's birth family connect with you around the holidays?

Meet the Rupers!

I am sooo excited about our family of the week! I love waiting child adoption! And the Rupers are adopting a waiting child! You are going to LOVE this family! Hear their amazing story:

"We are Abe, Marissa, Levi, and Zahria Ruper. We are a bilingual family (our son Levi is profoundly deaf and uses American Sign Language to communicate). We adopted Levi and Z from Ethiopia last year. Neither of them knew any sign language at that time and Levi (14) had never been able to communicate. He also had no education. We taught the kids to sign (Marissa is an interpreter) and for the first time in their lives, Levi and Z are able to talk to each other. Now we are going back to Ethiopia to bring home our 3rd child, a beautiful 10-year old deaf girl. Like Levi, she has no language and almost no education. We are SO excited to bring her home!!!!!"

-The Rupers

Are you as excited about the Rupers' adoption as I am? Lets show our love and support! 3 things you can do: Pray, Share this post and video, and Give $1 or more.

Donate to the Rupers' adoption here: http://www.grouprev.com/operationnatalie

I know you are going to want to keep up with the Rupers' adoption story. You can follow the Rupers' blog at: www.helpabeandmarissaadopt.blogspot.com

UPDATE: We have raised $6,790 to help bring Natalie home!

Thursday update on the Jones Family

The Jones have reached $190 of their $900 goal.

Every dollar counts and is so encouraging to our families.

Will you stop by youcaring and donate your $1 today?

When you are done why not share it on your wall?

See if you can get some of your friends to join Give1Save1 and 

help the Jones family!

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bring-aubrey-home/69535

Chicken Masala Recipe

Hey hey! It's time for your weekly dose of Food That Doesn't Photograph Well, But Tastes Pretty Darn Good, with your hosts, the Cupitts. Sidenote: The man hands are those of my husband.

Today we're giving a nod to our Indian adopters. Shout out! Where are you?! Today we're cooking Chicken Masala, the slacker way. You should totally know how to cook authentically from a native friend if you are able. But on weeknights, you need a quick fix to get the job done. So let's get started. First, cook up some chicken. I used thighs and baked at 400 for 40 minutes, covered, then uncovered and got them a little brown. Then just chop it up. Or if you want you can just grab a rotisserie chicken at the store and tear it up.

Next it gets good! Cover the bottom of your skillet with olive oil and get that heating. Add two heaping spoonfuls of minced garlic, minced ginger and sautee for about a minute. Then add two heaping spoons of garam masala.

Add a can of tomato sauce.

Then you get your Thanksgiving onions. Yes, these.

Crunch up about 2 handfuls in the onions and drop them in the mix. Add the chicken in too, and then remove from heat. Let cool for about 5 minutes.

This is my favorite part. Now that it's a tad cooler you can add a giant dollop of greek yogurt.

Serve over rice with some naan bread for dipping. I get this stuff in the freezer section at my regular grocery store and it's delicious.

That's that. Surprisingly quick and awesome dinner. This is very similar to Ethiopian doro wot, so Ethiopian peeps, it might be a great thing to try. Let me know if you try it!

Your Purchase Power

Hey guys,
So we've talked about this company before, Noonday Collection.  And if you're like me, you're always looking for an excuse to purchase something that gives back (especially around Christmas time).  I always try to talk my husband into something that I need basically because it's something that gives twice. One of my faves (I'm even an ambassador I loved it so much) is Noonday Collection.  If you haven't heard about Noonday you need to check them out! They were birthed out of an adoption fundraiser! If you host a show and want it to benefit an adoption, Noonday will give 10% of the shows total to your adoption agency, a-ma-zing! Not only can you earn money for your adoption but your friends can get some amazing jewelry and accessories that come with a story!

What's this story stuff I'm talking about you ask? Well, every piece with Noonday is handmade and provides sustainable income to the person who crafted it. It's a win win for sure.

There's an awesome sale going on right now too, so maybe get some holiday shopping done, give a gift that gives twice.

The Jones Family

Can I just give a shout out to single mother's everywhere? I admire everything about you.

I absolutely love to see single momma's bringing their babies home.

Your courage inspires me.

Daphne Jones is headed back to China for a little girl named Aubrey.

You just have to watch this video they made. 

There is one of the most beautiful giggles I have ever heard about halfway through the video.

Seriously, watch it! 

How cute is she? 

Head over to youcaring where Daphne has a page set up for us.

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bring-aubrey-home/69535

Am I the only one that loves the song, Orphans of God by Avalon?

Anyone else out there that cries every single crazy time they hear it?

Tell me I'm not alone, People.

Moorhouse Update

So far, we have raised $254 to help Jeremy and Shelly Moorhouse bring home their daughter Ivelina. The Moorhouse have a matching grant from Brittany's hope. Through other donations and fundraisers, along with the money raised on Give1Save1 they have raised almost all of the amount needed for their matching grant. They just need $263 more dollars to meet their $2,500 matching grant! Let's help them raise that last little bit to bring Ivelina home! If we go over, then the money will be used for travel expenses!

Go Here to Donate: http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/bringing-ivelina-home/86441

Keep up with the Moorhouses on their blog! 

Browned Down Lime Chicken

Today I'm venturing out. Normally I only cook sweets. I'm actually a really terrible cook because my husband is a really good one. He totally volunteered to be the chef as we embark on this Ethnic cooking series and I was to photograph it and blog it and all. But he got busy and I had to cook it too! And I did it. It was easy and yummy and even got kid-approval. So, let me show you how I made a little something called Browned Down Lime Chicken.

Browning Down is a term used in a Carribean kitchen. It's a simple process that can easily get botched if you aren't paying attention. It's simply caramelizing sugar in oil. The tricky part is not to let it burn! So, first you take your chicken thighs and salt and pepper them.

I apologize for the raw chicken photo. I am no Pioneer Woman and there's just nothing pretty about raw chicken. But anyways. 

Then you take 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil and sprinkle around 2 tablespoons of sugar. Don't stir it. Just put it on a low to medium heat and cover. Peak in a few times until it looks like this. But don't burn it. Pay attention!

Next we put in the chicken thighs. Put them in, pop on the lid and walk away for 10 minutes. It's now starting to smell crazy good. Flip them over and squeeze on the juice of two limes. Cook through (another 10 minutes-ish). Move to another dish and pour all the extra sauce on.

We served  them up with Carribean Mash, which (correct me if I'm wrong), seems to be sweet potato fries. That's what they eat instead of white potato fries. I totally cheated and bought a bag of sweet potato fries. Super successful dinner. Let me know how you like it. 

Calling me Momma

For so many years, I had longed to be a mother.  Really, since the day we got married, I was ready to throw out the birth control and get our little family started.  My much wiser husband wanted to wait a few years.  We started trying the summer of 2007.  That fall was our first miscarriage, followed by surgeries, a move, new job for my husband, and the beginning of fertility treatments, and the experience of even more loss; pregnancies and a failed adoption.   Those treatments were hard.  Hard on my body.  The losses were hard.  Hard on my emotions.  Hard on our marriage.  Hard on my will.  Throughout all of it, I remember thinking, it should be this hard to become a mother. 

Through all the loss and hurt, we struggled waiting.  I was not a very patient waiter, so once we were matched with Isaac's brithparents, things seemed to move rather quickly.  We were matched on a Wednesday, drove to Louisville to meet  them for the first time that Friday at lunch, and then she was induced for low amniotic fluid the next Friday, two weeks early.  Things were happening fast, so it seemed.  We drove eight hours, all night long, not knowing if she had had the baby yet.  We arrived early that morning, and got settled into the hotel and found the hospital. Later that night, 24 hours after she was induced, little Isaac was born, and within minutes we were able to hold him.  At that moment, as tiny as he was, he held a big place in my heart. 

We were able to each hold him for a few moments 

as they moved him between the OR and the nursery

 We stayed with him at the hospital, caring for him, rocking him, feeding him, and enjoying the moments, knowing soon he would have to go into foster care until the court date where his birthparents rights would be terminated.  We didn't know how long we would be separated, we were told it could be a week, or as long as four.  Nothing could prepare us for the long ride home, after saying goodbye to him in a hospital parking lot.   His foster parents were amazing and we were reunited after ten days (our agency said one of the quickest court dates they ever had in that county). 

               

We had to stick around the area until ICPC had cleared both states, and during that time we visited the Louisville Bat factory.  We walked around the museum, watched the move, and went on the tour of the factory.  At the end, they hand out little souvenir bats.  The gentleman who was our tour guide, handed me two, and said "Here you go momma, one for him too".  I almost stopped dead in my tracks.  He called me momma.  He didn't know my history, didn't see the hurt, didn't know of our past, just saw me in that moment, of what I was, finally.  A momma. 

Outside the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory

Since Isaac could talk, he called me Momma too.  Now that he's getting older, the occasional Mommy, or Mom sneaks into his vocabulary, but most of the time it's just Momma.  And there is nothing else I love more than just being Alex and his Momma.  It's amazing how this simple, two-syllable word could heal so much hurt.

Welcome the Moorhouse Family!

I am so excited about our family of the week, Jeremy and Shelly Moorhouse! They are adopting Ivelina, a 7 year old waiting girl from Bulgaria!

From Shelly: 

We have been married for seven years. Jeremy works in the newspaper business, and I work in education. I had always thought of adopting, but it wasn't until about two years ago that I mentioned the idea to Jeremy. After thinking and praying about adoption for a year or so, we finally decided to take this step of faith to build our family through adoption. We believe God has adopted us into His family to be His children, and that He is now calling us to adopt a child into our family! We do have a special little girl in Bulgaria whom we are pursuing; her name is Ivelina. Ivelina has just turned seven years old, which means that soon, she may be moved to an orphanage for older children. Ivelina has some special needs, so this makes her adoption even that much more urgent! We have completed all the paperwork steps as quickly as we could, and now we are simply waiting on the Bulgarian government to give us our official match and our first travel dates. We expect to have our match this month!! If everything goes as expected, we anticipate being able to travel for our first trip this winter! We can't wait to bring our little girl from institution life into a loving home.

We are currently raising funds to go toward a matching grant that we received from Brittany's Hope. Our goal is to raise $2,500 as soon as possible so that when matched, we will receive $5,000 to help pay our referral fees and travel fees. So far we have raised about $1,600 toward that goal. Every dollar we raise through our GiveOneSaveOne fundraiser gets doubled!! It's a great time to give!

Please visit our blog to learn more about our family and see a current update on our fundraising efforts. Thanks for watching our video, visiting our blog, and helping us bring Ivelina home!

 - Shelly

Jeremy and Shelly have a matching grant from Britanny's Hope! Every dollar donated will be doubled! Let's help them bring Ivelina home!

Helping Give1Save1

I don't know if you have notices, but here at Give1Save1 we are a little different. We are not your average grant organization. In reality we boil down to a bunch of adoptive moms with a passion to see every orphan in a family. We want to help other families that find themselves feeling stuck. 

We are not a non-profit. We don't have any advertisements on our page. We blog for the people by the people. 

Opportunities are all around us to grow and help more families. But we get stuck. We really, really want to get out to spread the word more efficiently and help more families.

We came up with a tshirt to help fund us a little further. Right now we are taking pre-orders.

You can order on our store site through storenvy.

Our verse is directly underneath the logo.

They are $20 and if you are interested in more we can give a discount!

Shipping is free! Woot.

http://give1save1store.storenvy.com/products/3642724-give1save1-tshirt

Also, I am counting on your generosity to overlook the fact that my eight year old

snapped this picture. I promise when I have two seconds to update it.

...when I have two seconds...

Have you been blessed by us in the past and would like to help us help more families?

Do you love being a part of Give1Save1?

Thanks guys!